And always bless them who seek help
वक्रतुण्ड महाकाय सूर्यकोटि समप्रभ।
निर्विघ्नं कुरु मे देव सर्वकार्येषु सर्वदा॥
Oh, Lord Ganesha with a twisted trunk and a majestic huge body, with effulgence equivalent to billions of Suns, I ask thee to grant me freedom from all obstacles and bless me, so that all my efforts may successfully manifest.
Today is Ganesh Chaturthi, a major Hindu festival of Lord Ganesha, the most beloved lord who is worshiped on every occasion. The Lord with human body and an elephant head (there is a special story behind it) removes all obstacles from our path, so that is the reason, he is first addressed in all other festivals. However, today is his special day, on which we all seek his blessings to give us knowledge and confidence and protect against obstacles. It's believed that enchanting the above sloka 108 times everyday brings knowledge and helps us navigate our journey in life with grace and success. Slowly these beliefs are fading away as the current generation thinks, Internet or Science and Technology has answer to everything, but they realize the truth only after experiencing some miraculous events, which can barely be answered. As parent, we always try to teach our kids to do all these rituals at home as well as outside, as they are meant to guide them to traverse in the right path and be successful in life. Success can mean different to different people, but the ultimate success is to lead a happy life and these slokas definitely help to develop compassion and free from stress and anxiety - the root cause of all the problems in life. I am sure, our kids will have to deal with more stress than us, but having them practiced these from a early age, will help them to focus and avoid procrastination.
Like every year, we did the rituals first in our society community hall, where everyone joined.
Kids break a coconut offering it to the Lord, seeking purification of the heart and soul, by breaking ego, and let go of pride and arrogance. It's told that, whosoever coconut breaks at one go has the purest soul.
And finally all of us giving Pushpajani to the Lord to wind up the Puja and accept prasadam.
The boy has recently joined a gym and asked me to accompany him for the celebration there.
I must say that the decoration was simple but brilliant, especially the deity was so lively and beautiful.
It always feels good to see young generation believing in divinity as that helps them in character building, giving positive energies, which is the most demanding need of the future, but not available to buy.
Interestingly, while coming back, this tree on that gym premise caught my attention as I am a big fan of ripen Papaya.
I am going to go there again tomorrow to see the owner, if he would like to sell these chemical free joys.
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